>She obviously stopped for her own reasons, not the health of the
baby, after all formula is just as good and now she wants to be
breastfeeding 'cause she MISSES it?  Give me a break, what about all the 
stuff the poor little baby is missing!!< 

Hmm, so breastfeeding is 'really' about the health advantages of breast milk 
to the baby and is a health behaviour.  I don't find myself able to buy 
this.  Breastfeeding is a biopsychosocial behaviour, with many dimensions, 
and deep personal and cultural meanings.  It is an expression of one of the 
closest relationships humans can have with one another.  When I was feeding 
my own children I remember thinking that the fact that the nutrition of 
breastfeeding was better than the alternatives was a sort of bonus, which 
was over and above the enjoyment and satisfaction we both felt.  Indeed, the 
first time (in 1990) someone suggested to me that women who were hiv+ should 
not breastfeed I had a strong emotional reaction and scandalised the lovely 
young man who was a hospital HIV advisor, giving us a study evvening on hiv, 
by saying that I would not want, maybe almost not be able, to have a baby 
and not breastfeed. 

One of the greatest secrets about breastfeeding is that it is a source of 
complex and contradictory emotions for women, that can be an important part 
of their live experience.  If women were to think of breastfeeding as a 
possible source of valuable life acheivement rather than as themselves as 
vessels for better-then-average milk, maybe things would be different.  
However, we continue to present breastfeeding as a health behaviour, 
discouraging women from considering its other meanings in their lives. 

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK 

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